Alternate Universes, but suspiciously similar
by Led Feynman M.D. D.D.S. Ph.D
Summary: Repping TyZula month. Short pieces set in alternate universes, from deep space to the post-apocalypse to near-modern Ba Sing Se.
1. Cravings

June 1st: Craving – What's something you couldn't quit if you tried?

There's an admirable amount of candy wrappers around Azula that grows continuously. Her hands are shaking as she unwraps another piece. It's a lemon-flavored hard candy and she almost immediately chews it up and swallows the glass-like shards of candy.

"Can you chew those just a tiny bit quieter?" Ian scolds from the other side of the room, where he's curled up on the opposite couch frantically solving sudoku puzzles.

"Can you stop sighing every five seconds?" Azula shoots back, unwrapping another piece and dropping the paper wrapper in her lap.

"I'm not sighing, I'm just breathing. You're doing it too." He crumples up the puzzle he's working on and tosses it into a pile in front of the TV.

Just then the door opens and Ty Lee cautiously enters the apartment. Ian just looks up and sighs. Azula glares at him then quickly glances at the door and mumbles something like a greeting.

"Hey guys," Ty Lee says anxiously, approaching Azula in the manner of a young child apprehensively telling her mother she broke an expensive appliance. "Can I kiss you or would that annoy you too much?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Azula all but snarls, facing her quickly. Ty Lee freezes and glances at Ian for support but he simply glares at her before looking down to his puzzle.

"Uh... never mind." She backs off and heads to her bedroom.

Ian looks up as she walks off. "Can you believe her," he mutters to nobody.

"Do you have a problem with her? What has she ever done to you?" Azula snaps at him before crunching another candy in her mouth.

From the adjoining kitchen Ty Lee stands quietly, looking between Ian and Azula in surprise. "I'm... just right here guys."

Azula and Ian grumble at each other and resume their activities. Ty Lee leaves for real and they sit in relative silence, apart from the candy pulverization sounds. Azula eventually switches from lemon candy to grapes, then to almonds. Ian sits up and rubs his head.

"I hate this," he mumbles.

"I hate you."

"Look... all things considered, we've done pretty well together."

"We've done extremely well," Azula corrects.

Ian nods. "Aye. I mean... how much could one cigarette hurt? I know you- hey!"

Azula cuts him off by lobbing an almond into his eye. "It starts off with just one and before you know it we're back to where we started!" She throws almonds as she shrieks. "We're in this together Ian, and I'm not about to let you drag me back down!"

"Look we'll just have one- like, we'll split it, so a half a cigarette each! Stop throwing those, please!"

"If it weren't for you I wouldn't smoke at all, you dopehead fuck! The only way I can quit is by watching you suffer with me!" Azula stuffs four almonds into her mouth and falls back into the couch. Ian sits up for a moment more, then collapses back into his couch swearing as he goes down. The evening passes in agony.

* * *

The bed creaks as Azula climbs in next to Ty Lee. She stares at the ceiling for a second, hoping Ty Lee will initiate whatever is about to happen. That doesn't happen.

"Sorry about earlier," she says simply. Ty Lee moves around next to her.

"It's okay. I understand."

"No, I've been a bitch for most of the last three days, and the fact that it's the result of a chemical dependency doesn't excuse my behavior. I should be able to regulate my emotions more effectively."

Ty Lee rolls over and kisses Azula on the cheek. "Please lighten up. I've dealt with you at much worse." She drops her face to Azula's shoulder and pulls the rest of her body in close.

"I... Well, I- Still, I shouldn't have said some of the things I did."

"If you insist, then I accept your apology," Ty Lee sighs. "How's Ian holding up?"

"I think it's killing him," is all Azula says to that.

"Where is he? I thought I heard him leave a little while ago."

"He told me he wanted to take a walk and get some fresh air."

"Is that all he's doing?"

"I told him if he had a cigarette while he was out I'd throw him off the roof."

There's a slight pause. "Will you be able to tell?"

"At this point I could smell a cigarette from three blocks away."

Ty Lee nods curtly. "That's fair. Did I ever mention how thankful I am that I didn't get into smoking like you did?"

Azula scoffs. "You should hold on to that. It's not as cool as I make it look." Ty Lee giggles in response. "When was the last time you had a cigarette? It has to have been a while ago."

"It was when we were in the Fire Nation, for my father's funeral. On the roof." Azula nods.

"I remember now." She slides her hand under the covers onto Ty Lee's arm. "And I even warned you not to get into smoking, or you'd be like Ian." Ty Lee grins.

"You should have followed your own advice. Now look at you."

Across the apartment the front door opens and Ty Lee pokes Azula in the stomach. "Either he's home or we need to go beat up a burglar."

Azula spends a second sniffing deeply, then sighs in frustration and sits up, pushing Ty Lee off her. "Either way somebody is getting thrown off the roof."

"Make sure he lands on the mattress down there," Ty Lee instructs, settling back into her side of the bed.

"Where he lands is entirely up to him. It's none of my concern." Azula twists around to kiss Ty Lee one more time before getting off the bed.

Ty Lee pulls the blanket over herself and rests peacefully even as she hears Ian shouting as he falls past her window just thirty seconds later.


	2. War

June 3rd: War – What's something you want to get your friends into?

T: im bored

A: Do something about it.

T: wanna hang out?

A: I'm a little busy at the moment, maybe this afternoon.

T: come one

T: come on

T: lets do something

A: I'm already doing something. Can't you stand to go without seeing me for more than a day?

T: why would i want to?

[Eight minutes of silence]

A: Good answer.

T: xDDD

A: We can hang out as long as you promise to never send me that again.

T: ?

A: Just come over to my house.

T: your house? :O

T: i thought that was off limits?

A: Well my father isn't here and Zuko's hiding in his room. Now is as good a time as any.

T: ok ill be there in twetny minutes

A: Remind me to show you how Autocorrect works sometime.

T: i turned it off

T: i text faster without it

A: That doesn't make any sense.

T: how do i use your doorbell

-line break-

"The middle one rings the bell," Azula says when she swings the heavy front door open. Ty Lee is inspecting the unit, which appears as though someone glued a TV remote control to the wall.

"Which middle one?"

Azula leans out and presses an understated button near the bottom corner of the module. A sarcastically understated chime rings through the house, echoing into itself a million times like a hurricane blasting through a wind chime shop.

"Are you gonna get that or what?" An angsty voice shouts out quietly from somewhere in the house almost immediately after the chiming stops. Azula just rolls her eyes.

"Don't mind him. Coming in?"

Ty Lee steps into the house and is impressed by the elegant interior.

"Wow, your house is nice. You should invite me over more."

Azula just shrugs. "My father doesn't like visitors." She walks off into the depths of the mansion. "Do you want something to drink?"

"Yeah, please. It's hot out there."

They pass through the kitchen which Ty Lee thinks is large enough to run a modest restaurant out of, and Azula hands Ty Lee a glass.

"So, what were you doing that was so important?" Ty Lee asks after she drinks half of the glass in a single pull. Azula just takes back it and refills it.

"I thought I'd show you. Now that I've finished putting it together anyway." She leads Ty Lee up a twisted staircase, down a hallway, and into a bedroom that looks larger than the kitchen they were just in. The floor and bed are littered with cardboard boxes, packing materials, and shipping receipts.

Azula kicks some of the boxes out of the way. "Sorry about the mess. I hoped I'd have time to clean up some."

"What's all this for?" Ty Lee asks, picking up a box. The front is a picture of some computer part she doesn't recognize.

In lieu of answering Azula drops herself into a plush office chair and gestures sharply towards a massive computer tower sitting underneath her desk. It's angular and menacing, like something a deranged animator would insert into a children's cartoon to induce nightmares and quit his job.

"Oh," Ty Lee starts, taking a step towards it. "Oh, you built it?"

"Yep. All the parts came in today." Azula shakes the mouse and the machine roars to life, then quickly quiets to a low purr. Ty Lee's eyebrows go up.

"It looks weird."

"I liked the way it looked. And it held all the components I wanted to use." As Azula starts the beast up Ty Lee crosses the room and drags a stool next to Azula's.

"It looks like you put a lot of work into building it," she mutters, glancing out over the wasteland of cardboard boxes.

"Oh I did. I started ordering things when I moved here, since my old computer was starting to fall behind."

"So what does this one have?"

Azula's eyes gleam. "It has an AMD three-point-six gigahertz 8-core processor, an MSI X370 AM4 motherboard, a Samsung 850 EVO two terabyte SSD, two sixteen gigabyte Trident Z RAM cards, an MSI GeForce GTX one-eighty Ti video card, an EVGA SuperNOVA six hundred fifty watt power supply, and a Samsung C35F971 thirty-four forty by fourteen forty one hundred hertz monitor." She confidently pats the giant curved monitor while Ty Lee nods idly, not even sure what most of those things are.

"...And what will you use it for?"

"Games and stuff," Azula says with a shrug, turning back to it and opening a program.

Ty Lee nods, satisfied with the justification. "What sorts of games?"

"Well, I was thinking about starting a new game in Fallout New Vegas before you texted me today."

"I don't think I've heard of that one. Is it any good?"

The chair creaks when Azula spins towards Ty Lee. "You've never played Fallout?" Ty Lee just shakes her head meekly.

"I only have a PS3 at home!"

"Here." Azula stands up and pulls Ty Lee into the plush office chair, dropping herself onto the stood. As Ty Lee sinks into the ocean of padding she can feel a lifetime of scoliosis developing inside her spine. "I've racked up enough hours for one lifetime. You should give it a shot." She takes the mouse from Ty Lee's hand and starts the game. "You've played on a PC before right?"

"Uh, once, on my other friend's computer. It was a few years ago though."

"Should work the same."

They watch the Bethesda and Obsidian title cards play on the screen. Azula tries to surreptitiously hum the main theme quietly to herself and Ty Lee tries to pretend that she doesn't hear her. The game loads up within a few seconds.

"That was fast."

"Mh-hm. Click 'New". Wait, hold on- Okay, I don't have an autosave floating in there. Go ahead and start."

Ty Lee clicks accordingly and they both lean in to watch the opening cinematic.

"Where's that?" Ty Lee asks almost immediately, as a painting of the moon appears on the screen.

"It's just- watch the clip. It shows you everything."

"Oh, it's a bar."

"Shh."

"Who are those?" Ty Lee asks about the drunken NCR soldiers staggering around the Strip.

"Just shut up a sec, everything is explained."

"Oh, cool helmet. Hey the Las Vegas sign! Did you see that when you lived in Las Vegas?" She turns to Azula.

"Yeah- of course I did."

"Whoa, what's happening?" She asks about the bullet in the slow motion tracking shot moving down the street. Azula pinches her forehead and Ty Lee recoils in surprise when the bullet explodes the head of a raider.

After what Azula considers to have been an hour and thirty minutes they finish watching the eighty-five second opening cinematic.

" _War. War never changes..."_ Ron Perlman's gravely voice declares, and Ty Lee sits up in surprise.

"Oh, is that what that's from?" Azula just nods.

"I've heard that before. _War never changes_ ," she croaks in imitation.

Eventually Ron finishes narrating the events of Fallouts 1 and 2 and Chandler Bing shoots Ty Lee in the face, and the game begins in Doc Mitchell's house in Goodsprings, Nevada.

"Ty Lee, I swear to God, please stop asking me who people are! Just play the game and it tells you!" Azula all but shouts, and Ty Lee shrinks away back to the game.

"At least this guy is nice to me. Oh, I get to name the character." She pauses with her fingers over the keyboard. "What should I name me?"

"Whatever you want. It's your build."

Ty Lee pauses, then looks back to Azula. "I'll just be Ty Lee." She types her own name into the box and Azula nods in agreeance.

"Keeping it simple. Good strategy."

"Can I change it later?"

"Ah, yeah, I'll look up the command for it later."

"Whoa, I can decide what I look like?"

Azula just nods.

"Ew, all the presets are ugly." Ty Lee cycles through them, then clicks Randomize and recoils in shock. "Oh god, that's worse!"

After a while Ty Lee gets around to building her character. Doc Mitchell hands her some gear and she steps out of his house, gazing across the Mojave Wasteland.

"This is my favorite part. You see the world for the first time and all you can do is piece everything together and try to get moving."

"So, I'm supposed to go to Las Vegas?"

"Well- yeah, but it takes a while. I mean you could go straight there if you tried hard but it's better to follow the route the quests take you in."

"Oh. Where's that?"

"You heard the Doctor. Talk to Sunny in the saloon."

As Ty Lee gets into the game Azula glances at her occasionally. To her satisfaction she's focused in and doesn't realize she's being looked at. Or so Azula hopes.

"Are these real places?" Ty Lee asks Azula, just south of Primm.

"Yeah, they're based off real towns and cities. The ones in the game are smaller in size and closer together, but they are real."

Ty Lee disintegrates a fire ant. "Have you ever been to Goodsprings?"

"No I haven't."

"Let's go sometime. I've always wanted to go to Vegas."

"To be honest, the city itself isn't that exciting. If you're into gambling I guess it would be fun but the parts of the Strip that I saw just had a bunch of drunks and drug addicts."

"Then we'll check out the towns around the city. What's Primm like?"

"Like a miniature Las Vegas. Just some hotels and casinos. A lot like in the game, actually."

"Oh. Still would be cool to check it out though- hey, hey hey!" Ty Lee encounters Vipers and jumps around shooting them awkwardly.

"Use VATS."

"I don't know how! Stop, stop!"

"Press V!"

"I'm trying- oh." The Viper freezes and Ty Lee targets her head.

Azula drops her head onto the desk "You're so... weird sometimes."

"It's okay. She's dead now." Ty Lee gently pats Azula in the back.

The lighting in the room has changed dramatically as the sun set. Ty Lee and Azula are staring at the screen as Ty Lee staggers towards Novac.

"There's a doctor in Novac. Just get yourself there and you'll be fine."

"I wish I had more Stimpacks."

"You shouldn't have used them all on- shh." Azula quickly mutes the speakers and stops to listen to something. Ty Lee pauses and looks at her.

"What?"

"My father's home," Azula says simply, and Ty Lee looks at her lap.

"Do you want me to leave?"

A garage door closes slowly somewhere in the mansion. Azula thinks for a second then nods. "He'll probably hear us."

She saves the game for Ty Lee then stands up (for the first time in hours) and walks around Ty Lee to a window.

"Just go out across this and use the branch to get down," she directs, gesturing vaguely as she opens the window.

Ty Lee stands up and nearly trips over boxes on her way to the window. "I wish I could stay a little longer."

"My father doesn't like visitors."

"You said that," Ty Lee grumbles as she slips through the window, turning back as she does. "Thanks anyway. That game is pretty fun."

"Thanks for helping me test it. My old computer wasn't handling all my mods very well, so I'm glad that this one works."

Ty Lee giggles a bit. "I'm happy to help. Now I want to play at home. Did it come out for Playstation three?"

Azula grinds her teeth and smiles uncomfortably. "Yes. It came out on all major platforms in 2010."

"All? Even the Wii?"

"I did say major didn't I?"

They giggle a bit again, and Ty Lee leans back through the window and quickly kisses Azula.

"I think we're even now," she breathes, and Azula tries to act casual.

"That seems to level out the score."

Ty Lee leans away and steps back from the window. "Have fun with your new computer Azula. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodbye. Stay safe."

"You know it," Ty Lee says as she drops off the roof, and Azula watches her leave.


	3. The Last Time

June 9th: The Last Time – Where do you want to be in life?

The little clock on her bedside table says it's just past midnight. The gentle hum of the air circulators which for so many years lulled her to sleep is suddenly a cacophony. Ty Lee knows that this time tomorrow she won't be sleeping with the sound present. She sits up slowly, pushing aside her thin blanket. Her bunk is completely dark, except for a tiny red tritium nightlight across from her bed. It's a spotlight now, and Ty Lee stares at it before swinging her feet into the cool metal floor. She misses the thick plush rug which had been there until very recently.

In another bunk Azula stares at the wall next to her bed thinking about tomorrow. Dreading is a better word. Her mind buzzes with missed opportunities and poorly handled moments. She should have been better. There's nothing she can do anymore.

The steel door to her bunk opens suddenly with a gasp of air pressure, and Azula turns over in silent surprise at the intrusion. She fumbles with the little lamp above her bed and it casts a dim yellow light across the room just in time for Ty Lee to step cautiously inside, apparently wearing nothing more than a loose tank and underwear. She closes the door behind her. Azula stares and tries furiously to think of something to say to her. Ty Lee looks uncomfortable, and bites her lip in a way that both annoys and arouses Azula. The staredown lasts for several seconds. Each of those seconds seems to go on forever. Finally Azula pulls her bedsheet back and Ty Lee crosses the bunk in two steps.

-line break-

Time has definitely passed though nobody wants to find out how much. Azula is sitting up, staring languidly at the wall across her bed. Ty Lee sits with her legs on Azula's at right angles, staring at the wall opposite from her. Neither of them wants to be the one who breaks the silence.

"Are you still leaving tomorrow?" Azula asks, deciding she has to be the one to break the silence.

Ty Lee takes some time to answer, inhaling slowly for a few seconds. "Yeah." Azula just nods.

"I thought so," she says, trying not to sound disappointed.

"I just thought, um, it's been a while since... Yeah, we may as well do it one more time. Before I leave." She drops her hands back into her lap.

"One more time," Azula repeats. It's almost insulting. It digs in like a knife even though she's sure Ty Lee doesn't mean it that way.

Ty Lee suddenly starts trying to fox her hair, pulling it back behind her head, then looks around for a second. "Hey, what time is it?" Azula leans over and picks up the cat-shaped alarm clock from her bedside shelf.

"Almost one." Ty Lee nods and leans back into the wall.

"Have you decided where you'll go?" Azula asks.

"I'm not really sure. I think I'll just spend some time in Daesong first, then maybe I'll go to Panju and catch the ferry."

"How's your Kihom?"

"Naneun naega al-aseo... chaeng-gil su iss-eo," Ty Lee stutters.

"I'll take your word for it."

Ty Lee giggles. "I should have studied it in school. I'm not as good with languages as you are." Azula just shrugs.

"You've been surrounded by Dovari speakers your whole life. If you live in a place where nobody speaks your language, you either learn it or you starve."

"Then I guess I should get comfortable speaking it." Ty Lee sighs quietly and looks at Azula's legs.

The air circulators kick on again. Azula realizes she's sitting on Ty Lee's wadded-up shirt, and hands it back to her. It pains her to do so, because when Ty Lee slips into it she knows it'll probably be the last time she gets to see her breasts for a long time.

Azula wants to tell her to stay. She wants to pull her up next to her and never let go. She wants to show Ty Lee all the beautiful things in the solar system. She wants to...

Ty Lee suddenly looks at her and breaks her train of thought. Azula swallows the words in her throat. Deep down she knows Ty Lee doesn't want to spend the rest of her life in a space ship.

"Ty," She says, agonizingly.

"Huh?"

"...We'll be in Daesong in about seven hours. Why don't you get some sleep." Ty Lee nods slowly and sits up.

"Um. Yeah, good idea." She slides off Azula's legs and finds her underwear on the ground. Azula surreptitiously watches her put them on, then looks back at the far wall. Ty Lee gets to the door and turns back to Azula. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow. Er, later today."

"Good night. Thanks for..."

Ty Lee just grins. "Thank you, Captain. For everything." She shuts the door behind her and Azula closes her eyes and turns off the lamp.

* * *

Big thanks to Oree in the Kiwi IRC #korean channel for the translation, because I don't do conlangs.


	4. Forbidden Fruit

June 12th: Forbidden Fruit – What rules would you break for a friend?

Approximately two kilometers from the water of Senjou Bay, deep in the heart of the party district, is a busy little nightclub and bar inhabited by a huge variety of party-goers, mostly college kids and people way too old to be going to clubs with college students. The atmosphere is diverse, and people from three different planets bounce wildly around the room to a selection of music carefully cultivated to inspire as much booty-shaking (and drink-buying) as physically possible. It is quite possibly the most exciting room in the entire city, or by some standards the entire planet, and has been engaged in a nearly non-stop party for as long as anyone in the room can remember.

Ty Lee sits huddled in the corner nursing a gin and tonic while a man almost twice her age tells the story of the first engine he rebuilt with his siblings.

Not that Gunshyu is a boring man; Ty Lee certainly enjoys listening to him tell stories, even if by her estimates about forty percent of what he says is either exaggerated or completely fabricated. In fact not too long ago she was on the dance floor herself, shaking what her mother generously gave her and unintentionally debraining people with her braid. But that got boring after a while, and her functional shoes were bad for dancing, and Gunny looked lonely in the tiny booth in the corner, so she picked up two drinks and settled into storytime.

Gunny finishes his story and Ty Lee is about to laugh and respond with something witty when from the corner of her eye she notices Traku emerge from the throng of people with panic on his face, looking around wildly until his gaze falls on Ty Lee. She pauses and stiffens as he staggers over, mentally tallying the possible entrance and exit points in the building.

"Oh thank Agni. Ty Lee. Hey Gunny." Traku leans onto the table and lowers himself with a distressing franticness. "Ty Lee I need your help."

"What"s going on?" she asks, deflating when she realizes where this is going.

"I need you to run back to the ship and grab my flight jacket for me," He says in a low, rushed tone. As he speaks he glances back to the bar. Ty Lee rolls her eyes.

"The ship? What do you need your flight jacket for?"

Traku once again glances to the bar. "Look, I don't have a lot of time; I'm trying to chat up these two hotties over there but I keep hitting a wall with them; If they knew I was a pilot they'd open right up for me," he says in a single rushed breath, gesturing to the bar as he concludes. Ty Lee follows his motion and sees a man and a woman standing aloofly at the bar. "Come on Ty Lee, please!"

"...Why can't you just tell them you're a pilot?"

"Because life is all about showing, Ty Lee, not telling. Ty Lee, they're brother and sister! Have you ever made it with a guy and his sister at the same time?"

While the thought has certainly crossed her mind on more than a few occasions, she never has.

"Okay, fine." She throws her hands up in defeat.

"Thank you! Thank you! It's in my bunk."

Ty Lee throws back the remainder of her gin and tonic and slams the glass down on the table. "This better be full when I get back. Gunny, please hold that thought." She pushes Traku out of the way and exits the club.

-line break-

At lot 27 in the Senjou Interplanetary Spaceport Ty Lee punches her passcode into the external access panel of the Red and Gold's bay control and steps aside as the heavy loading ramp swings down. She leaves it open and unattended as she climbs the staircase to the crew decks. The door to Traku's bunk has some hasty scrawl warning of toxic waste contamination, but Ty Lee enters nevertheless and finds herself standing in his trash pit of a room.

The walls are decked with posters for movies released in languages Ty Lee is pretty sure Traku doesn't speak, held up with decorative magnets depicting assorted animals, fruit, and cartoon characters. Every square centimeter of horizontal space is action-packed with as much kitschy crap as physically possible. It reminds Ty Lee of a seaside antique store. Traku's jacket is probably in his wardrobe, which she manages to open despite the finicky handle mechanism.

It's a standard Randao Flight Academy jacket with a couple of patches haphazardly sewn onto the sleeves and front panels. Ty Lee struggles to get it off the hook, but it finally relents. As it comes out it snags on the back to the door handle mechanism. Ty Lee pulls the jacket off and the handle spins away from the door, clattering to the ground and rolling under the bed.

"Shit." Ty Lee throws the jacket on the bed and drops to her knees, groping under Traku's bed and hoping she doesn't come out with a used condom. Instead, her hand lights on something round and rubbery. She stops in surprise and grabs at the round thing again. "What..."

Ty Lee yanks out her arm and her eyes almost pop out of her head. In her hand is nothing more than a plain orange. She stares in utter shock at the fruit, continually turning it over in her hands. It's just smaller than her fist and an even orange color all the way around... just like a regular orange.

"Traku, what the hell," she breathes. It's definitely not a plastic model, she decides when she scrapes the rind with her thumbnail and smells the exposed albedo. "Where did you get this?" she murmurs to no one. No one answers.

A moment passes and a sudden creak somewhere in the ship reminds Ty Lee that the bay door is still open. With one final leery glance Ty Lee rolls the orange back under the bed, finds the handle, and leaves the ship, her mind buzzing with questions the whole time.

-line break-

Ty Lee is normally all eyes when Azula gets out of the shower wearing a towel and nothing, and while she definitely looks in her direction for longer than a moment her mind is preoccupied with something else.

"I'm thinking of having a larger water tank installed," she announces to nobody as she passes through the common area. "It's more work for the water processor but damn it, I miss a nice long shower. "

The book Ty Lee is trying to read is boring and a few minutes later she gives up and resolves to find a better one in her bunk. On her way down the short hallway she stops in front of Traku's room. The door is still ajar from when she opened it last night, and she knows the orange is still under his bed.

"Everything alright?" Azula says in front of Ty Lee, catching her off guard.

"Ah- yeah, I was just thinking about- uh, something."

Azula reaches out to push Traku's door open, and there's nobody in his bunk.

"I guess he didn't come back last night. Do you know where he is?"

"He hooked up with a couple of kids from that club. That, or he passed out in an alley somewhere."

"Well, at least somebody knows something." Azula says with a slow nod, about to step around Ty Lee, then stops suddenly and squints at her. "Wait, what do you mean by 'kids'?"

"Huh? Oh, I don't know, they looked like they were like twenty or something."

Azula's head rolls back in relief. "Oh thank Agni. There was an issue a few years ago, Traku tried to go home with a girl who he claims lied about her age. He was pretty soused at the time but she certainly did not look nineteen. Her parents were livid." Ty Lee giggles.

"I don't doubt it. He's a bit stupid when he's drunk."

"You should have seen him the first time we met. He was a mess..." Azula shudders, then starts to walk past Ty Lee.

"Wait, hey-" Ty Lee grabs Azula's arm. "Check out what I found last night." She pulls her into Traku's bunk and turns on the light.

"What, did you find a pair of pants that fit him?" Azula watches in confusion as Ty Lee drops to the ground and reaches under the bed. Confusion changes to shock when Ty Lee stands up and holds out what's in her hand.

"What the hell?!" Azula gasps, taking the orange and turning it around in her hands.

Ty Lee leans in excitedly. "I know! I found it last night when I came to get his stupid flight jacket so he could hit on that couple."

Azula's mouth refuses to close. She looks wildly between Ty Lee and the orange, then scrapes off a tiny bit of its skin to smell the innards. "It's real!" Ty Lee just grins. "I don't think I've seen an orange in..." she stops to do the math. "Well, since I lived on Earth."

"Me neither! I don't know, like five or six years ago for me."

"I can't... I don't even know how he could afford an orange on his salary!"

Ty Lee's visible excitement falters. "Don't- don't you pay his salary?"

"Uh-" Azula looks away, then back to the orange. "He must have found this in Iniesta. It's fresh, and I know they grow oranges in Mohorte." She stops and holds it up between herself and Ty Lee, then looks up and raises an eyebrow.

"What- oh, no, come on..."

"You come on Ty Lee, when was the last time you ate an orange?"

"I don't remember, but I'm not going to eat Traku's! He paid a lot for that, I think!"

"Look Ty, he doesn't want to eat this, the skin is all torn up here," Azula murmurs, dropping pieces of orange skin on the floor. "And in any case he owes me six birthday presents."

"He doesn't get you anything for your birthday?"

Azula shrugs indignantly. "No. It's ridiculous, he remembers everyone's birthday but mine."

"Not even a card?-" Ty Lee recoils when Azula puts a lobe of orange flesh against her lips. Azula rescinds it and eats it herself.

Her eyes roll back into her head and she steps away from Ty Lee. "Damn..." Ty Lee bites her own lip as she watches Azula nearly trip over the shit scattered across Traku's floor, gurgling in ecstasy. "Ty, it's even better than you remember..."

"I'm sure it is... Stop looking at me like that!" Azula steps towards her holding out another segment, smiling seductively.

"It could be a long time before you have another chance like this! Come on..." She pushes the piece into Ty Lee's pursed lips. The pressure causes juice sacs to rupture, and juice starts running down Ty Lee's chin. Ty Lee's austere expression cracks and she starts to smile, giving Azula the opportunity to shove the rest of the carpel into her mouth.

"Dommot-" Ty Lee chokes out, bending over suddenly with a hand clamped over her mouth to keep juice from running any further. "Whaaaa- Yor Roight..." She lets out a short laugh, drooling orange juice onto Traku's underwear.

Azula tosses her hair satisfactorily. "Am I right?"

"Yeah, you're right," Ty Lee giggles, straightening. "You're right and I hate it." Azula just smirks.

"Now..." She steps towards Ty Lee and runs her finger across her chin. "Look at this, you're covered in orange juice. You're going to be all sticky."

"Yeah, who's fault is that?"

"Fine, fine. I think I-" Azula wipes her juice-covered hand on Ty Lee's shirt. "Should I say we, need to get you out of these sticky clothes."

Ty Lee glances down at the marks then back to Azula, sighing in exaggerated frustration. "You're insatiable. It's like nine in the morning!"

"Sure, down here in Senjou. But who knows what time it is in space?" She looks briefly at the door to make sure they're alone then turns back to Ty Lee. "In fact, I'm covered in juice too. While we're still hooked up to a water supply, I think we could both use a shower..."

* * *

" _If you thought my oranges are bad, wait until you see my lemons*!"_

*There will not be any lemons in this story.

Come on, that's a double entendre and it's fucking hilarious. Thanks for reading.


	5. Sweat

June 15th: Sweat – How much would you suffer to improve yourself?

If Azula weren't so familiar with Ty Lee's apartment building she wouldn't have been able to pick it out from its nearly identical neighbors, which loom menacingly over her as she tries not to shiver in the chilly dawn air. This part of the city was apparently developed shortly before the Fall of Ba Sing Se, and Azula thinks that if nothing else her conquest of the city have had a positive effect on the architecture styles present in newer buildings.

She spots Ty Lee standing next to the staircase leading into her building and she unconsciously speeds up to reach her. Ty Lee turns and stops her coming, and her smile does a lot to justify waking up at four-thirty in the morning.

"Hey! I wondered if you'd show up."

"Let's get this over with," Azula retorts, hoping she doesn't sound as rude as that did to her. Ty Lee doesn't seem to care.

"Okay, well, you walked here so you should be mostly limbered, why don't we go to the park and then we'll do our stretches?"

The park in question is the better part of a kilometer away and the whole time Ty Lee explains the route to Azula, who nods along in vague interest. They get to the park, which isn't very well maintained but the walking paths are predictable in length and quality. Ty Lee apparently runs on them all the time. There's still some snow left over from the storm on New Year's, but it's been pushed into piles off the paths.

"I'll start slow and speed up as I go, but if you need a break just let me know," she tells Azula, who's supporting herself on a No Littering sign while pulling her leg up. "Ha, that rhymes!"

"I'll be sure to let you know," Azula grumbles. She has every intention of doing this relentlessly.

"Ready?" Ty Lee asks once Azula's leg is down, and when she nods back she starts off at a light jog. The first thing Azula notices is that Ty Lee's braid is tied up so it doesn't flop around everywhere, which is something she never used to do when they were kids. The second thing she realizes is that her legs are filled with pudding and Ty Lee is very quickly moving away. She pushes herself like she knows she can do and finds herself keeping up with Ty Lee, just several dozen meters behind. She assures herself she'll catch up and doesn't worry about it.

All of one minute later Ty Lee turns to see where Azula went and can't stop herself from laughing when she spots her halfway to where they started. She's abandoned all pretense of form and grace and is shambling rapidly towards Ty Lee.

"Oh... are you okay?" she giggles to Azula when she's close enough to talk to.

"'Mfine. Feel great," she gasps, shuffling by.

Ty Lee spins to grab her arm. "Hey, no, hold on," Azula stumbles to a stop, panting and gasping. Her hair sticks to her face in a hilariously undignified way.

"I'm fine, let's keep... moving."

"I'm so sorry Azula, I didn't expect you to be..."

Azula stands and pushes her hair off her forehead. "So out of shape?" Ty Lee just grins awkwardly.

"...You look great?" Azula tugs her arm away and tries to start running again. Ty Lee follows a few meters behind her.

"Don't hold back for my sake! I can take it!"

"Are you sure?" Ty Lee asks, coming up beside her.

"Yes! Push me!"

Azula watches in horror as Ty Lee zips off into the distance ahead of her. Her legs are beginning to shut down and she can barely see in front of her through the dense vapor she's exhaling into the cold air.

Nevertheless she pushes herself as hard as she can because she knows she can do better.

-line break-

"Maybe next time we'll do three laps instead of five," Ty Lee muses to Azula, who's trying very hard to pretend her body isn't wrecked. She staggers alongside Ty Lee like a deformed lab assistant, breathing in heavy gulps every few seconds.

"I can do five laps again," she says between gasps.

"...Why don't we see how you feel later today."

The Sun is close to the horizon and casts half the sky in a dim blue glow. Azula always liked the way the city looked at dawn, except for now because she wants to die.

"I'm great. I haven't felt this good in years," she declares, not even caring that Ty Lee knows she's lying.

"It's okay, Azula. It's not easy to undo four years of sedentary activity. It'll be a long time before you're back to the way you were before the War."

Azula simply glares towards Ty Lee, who smiles painfully.

"Did I mention how great you look?"

"I know what you're doing," she spits to Ty Lee, whose smile quickly shifts to a genuine grin. "You can keep going if you want though."

"You should work out more often. 'Sweat-drenched' is totally your color."

"That's funny. I was thinking something very similar."

Ty Lee giggles then stops cold, swearing loudly. Azula turns to see her staring up towards the tops of the buildings around them.

"What is it?" Azula demands.

"...I totally forgot. I'm so sorry Azula."

"Huh?" Azula follows Ty Lee's gaze and suddenly remembers the tall building Ty Lee lives in.

"...Oh." She looks back down to Ty Lee, who has an uncomfortable expression on her face.

"If you want to take a break down here we can," she offers, and Azula just shakes her head and struggles up the steps to Ty Lee's apartment building.

Their ascent is slow, and with each step Azula makes an embarrassing noise that Ty Lee promises to herself she'll never tell anyone about unless it'll make everyone laugh. By the second floor Azula can barely stand up straight but she waves off Ty Lee's attempts to help her up.

"This is good," Ty Lee insists as Azula hobbles up another step. "Show your body who's boss. Who's the boss of your body Azula?"

"I am," Azula growls. "But Gravity is a meddlesome regional manager who wants to undermine my control," she adds quickly.

Ty Lee is sitting on the stairs, sliding herself up alongside Azula. "That's right. And what do we say to meddlesome regional managers?"

"We say... 'I'm nationalizing this industry and placing all facilities under my direct control'."

"Good, you're doing great. We're almost on the fifth floor."

" _Don't remind me_ ," Azula says painfully, and Ty Lee is worried she may start crying.

They reach the sixth floor landing and Ty Lee ignores Azula's swatting and protesting and hauls her to her feet, pulling one arm over her shoulder and wrapping the other around her waist.

"Almost there 'Zula. One step at a time..."

Azula is worried she may never walk right again, but she suffers to prove to Ty Lee that she hasn't given up. Her shoes feel four sizes too small and she swears they're filling with blood. Ty Lee is saying something about taking a bath and she decides she wouldn't mind taking a bath with her.

The key to Ty Lee's apartment is safety-pinned to the inside of her vest and she withdraws her hand from Azula's waist to access it. When the door swings open Azula's eyes land on the mattress laying on the ground that serves as Ty Lee's bed, and it is her only salvation. She nearly throws Ty Lee to the side and flops down on it, and it seems to let her sink in forever.

"Ohghgohughuoguhffffffff," she declares, and Ty Lee giggles back.

"Well alright then! I'll go start the bath for you."

It's too late though. Azula had already fallen asleep.

-line break-

The first thing Azula hears is Ty Lee's laughter and the sound is musical to her. The next thing she hears is the television, and the sketch comedy show Ty Lee likes to watch. There's a strong, disgusting odor in the air.

"Ughf," she mumbles.

"Wow, I was starting to wonder if you'd ever wake up." Ty Lee is sitting on her own side of the bed while Azula is sprawled out on the other side, facing into the tiny kitchen.

"I can't move."

"I'm sorry. I wish I had something for that but you fell asleep before I could get you into the bath."

Azula closes her eyes and sighs. The comedy show comes on at noon, which means she's been asleep for several hours. That's humiliating enough on its own, but she also realizes with some shock that she's not wearing shoes or pants.

"Did you undress me?"

"A little bit. I just wanted to wash your clothes so you weren't laying there all day in them." There seems to be a fan positioned somewhere near the foot of the bed, and the air blowing over Azula's bare legs is more satisfying than she'd like to admit.

"Well... okay. Thanks."

"No problem. Are you hungry?"

"I could eat."

"I got us some things a little while ago. Yours is here." She feels Ty Lee set something dense on the bed next to her hand.

"What did you get me? It smells terrible."

"Bean curd soup. Didn't you tell me you liked that?"

As Azula realizes with horror that most of the disgusting odor she smells is indeed bean curd soup, she struggles to think of a polite war to tell Ty Lee that she can't stand the stuff.

Just then Ty Lee laughs. "I'm kidding. I got you shrimp with broccoli noodles."

"Oh thank Agni," Azula sighs in relief. She finds the chopsticks on the bed with her left hand and tears open the package. "Can you feed me? My head's facing the wrong way."

Without saying anything Ty Lee puts her soup down and turns Azula's head so it's facing the food she brought.

"Well, I could have done that..." With her left hand she pops open the paper food carton and starts into the shrimp sitting on top of the noodles.

"You did great today," Ty Lee says suddenly. "For what it's worth."

"Fanks," Azula mumbles through the shrimp in her mouth.

"I thought you were going to die, but you never stopped moving. Until you got up here, I guess."

"What, and disappoint you? Not on your life."

"I know. I'm proud of you is all."

Azula looks up at Ty Lee. All she can think of to say is a sincere "Thanks." It feels uncharacteristic of her but it also feels honest. In response Ty Lee reaches to her face and works her fingers through her hair, pushing it out of her forehead and eyes. Azula leans into the sensation.

"You're worth it," Ty Lee says softly. "That means you'll be back here tomorrow right?"

Azula groans and feigns falling asleep, leaving a broccoli noodle trailed between her mouth and the carton. Ty Lee just smiles.

* * *

Thanks to all my readers, especially QueenTyZula since she's the only one who seems to be reading this... so, thanks Queen.


	6. Follow Me

June 18th: Follow Me – How far would you travel to help a friend?

The silence of the abandoned suburbs is broken momentarily by the soft whoosh of the Thunderbird 2 as it passes over the broken and buckled road. From the passenger seat, Ty Lee glances around at the decaying houses and overgrown yards. She imagines a thriving community full of happy and friendly families, and wonders how long it's been since someone was happy here.

Next to her Azula grips the steering wheel so hard her hands are white. She maneuvers the vehicle around the larger holes in the road, but her eyes are fixed up ahead. The car slows down and she carefully turns into an apartment complex. Ty Lee looks around at the husks of cars still parked where their owners left them so many years ago.

"Are you sure you haven't been here before?" she asks, and Azula stiffens.

"Not in person," she retorts cryptically. She takes the first right and inches down the lane, looking for a section of the solar shade that hasn't collapsed.

"There," Ty Lee says, and Azula pulls in. The engages the parking gear and the vehicle settles on the ground, hissing slightly as they get out. Azula looks around at the buildings surrounding them, turning in a slow circle until she finds one apparently satisfying.

"This one," she announces, and Ty Lee follows her towards it.

The staircase is rusty and rotting away, and the concrete slabs are crumbling to dust, but Azula carelessly scales them with huge strides. Ty Lee is more cautious, sticking to the parts that don't look like they'll fall out from underneath her. She reaches the top and Azula is walking back and forth between two of the four doors on the landing, anxiously balling her fists.

"Two, zero... eight..." She rubs sweat off her forehead and looks at the other two doors. Most of the unit numbers have fallen off and been lost to time, and Ty Lee watches her pace back and forth.

"Do you remember?"

Azula stops in front of one of the doors, rubbing her hands together and staring at the view hole.

"It's got to be this one." Her hand goes to the knob even though she knows it's locked. If anything she hopes that something has rotted away inside. No such luck. "Still locked." Whoever lived here wanted to make sure nobody came after their stuff.

"Maybe we can get in somewhere else-" Ty Lee suggests even as Azula draws the gun from her hip and fires a single shot directly into the keyhole, blasting the knob off its mount and allowing her to reach into the mechanism and pull the latch manually.

The door swings open for the first time in many years and Azula steps inside cautiously with Ty Lee directly behind her. She doesn't raise her gun in front of her, but she doesn't put it away either.

Ty Lee looks around at the empty apartment, nervously aware of every creak and whine beneath her feet. "Is this the right one?"

"I... I don't know," Azula says weakly, pressing on. The floor hasn't collapsed which is a good sign, but nothing else inside inspires any amount of confidence. Absolutely everything is coated in inches of dust and spider webs, and the carpet crunches under their feet. The air is musty and hot, but thankfully doesn't smell like decay. It's far too dry for anything to be rotting.

Azula stands between the kitchen and the dining area, rubbing her head. There's a pained expression on her face which doesn't change when Ty Lee walks over and places her hand on her shoulder.

"This is it..." she mutters as if to no one, and Ty Lee nods a bit. "But it's wrong. None of this stuff is the same..." She pulls away from Ty Lee and walks to the back of the apartment, to the bedroom. The door is open and sunlight plays through the window, which somehow still has glass in it.

"It's not like what you saw?" Ty Lee asks softly, and Azula shakes her head.

"It's..." Her shoulders fall and she runs her hands through her hair. "I don't know what I expected to find. No one has been in here for hundreds of years." Ty Lee comes up behind her and takes her by the arm.

"Does it at least help to look? Just to see if anything matches your visions?" Azula doesn't answer and pulls away from Ty Lee back into the main room, nearly tripping over a piece of carpet she kicks up as she walks. Ty Lee doesn't follow right away, instead looking around the bedroom. There's a large yellow-grey rectangle in the far corner that she guesses was a bed. The curtains in this room are open, and everything in the path of the suns powerful rays is brittle and discolored. Ty Lee nearly jumps out of her skin when Azula starts shouting in the other room.

"I just... I know she has something to do with this place!" She kicks a pile of wood which at one point was a coffee table and it explodes into a pile of sawdust and regular dust. Ty Lee emerges from the bedroom and doesn't interrupt. "Why can't any of it make sense at all? Who does this- this bitch think she is, taking over my brain like this?" She turns toward Ty Lee, and her eyes are frantic and desperate. "If she wants me to find her so badly then why won't she be straight with me? What does she even want with me?" Ty Lee crosses the space between them and holds Azula's arms to her sides.

"Azula- hey, we'll figure this out, okay? We just need to- We have to be patient. You're smart. You'll find her or whatever you need to do to get your head straight. You're having those visions for a reason, so you just have to stay with it. If we find her, that's great or if we don't... at least we tried, okay?"

"It's- I don't know anymore, Ty Lee." Azula blinks rapidly and shakes her head. "It's all I can think about. She took over everything I know! How can I do this? You can't treat a sick organ with itself!"

"You don't have to, Azula! I'm here for you, I've always been here for you! I'll be there for you no matter what you do until you sort this thing out, and I"m not going to let you take it on alone!"

Ty Lee realizes she's squeezing Azula very tightly so she lets her go. Azula stands with her arms crossed, staring into the kitchen and not saying anything. For the first time Ty Lee realizes how stiflingly hot the apartment is, and wipes a handful of sweat off her forehead.

"You're not alone," Ty Lee reiterates while wringing her hands. Azula blinks slowly and looks back to her.

"You'll help me," she says, and though it's stated as a demand Ty Lee recognizes it for a plead.

"Of course."

"You'll come with me then?"

Ty Lee sighs heavily and nods. "Absolutely."

"Anywhere?"

"I'll follow you from... from one end of the continent to the other." She steps closer to Azula.

"I know another place she was. She wasn't there that long but I think she... she left something." Azula wipes sweat off her face and nods at Ty Lee. "I know you don't really believe she's real but- I know there's proof there." Ty Lee hold out her arms in protest.

"No, Azula, I believe-" her protest quickly fails when she searches Azula's face and finds absolute conviction, or at least a convincing facsimile. It's good enough for her and she lowers her hands. "So... where is it?"

"You promise you'll follow me?"

"I- yes, Azula, I promise. Anywhere you go. Anywhere in Mohave, anywhere in the world even. So, where do we need to go."

Azula nods once. "New Texas."

Ty Lee purses her lips and does the math in her head. "That's halfway across the continent." Azula just nods again. Ty Lee tries not to look annoyed. "Okay. Well, I'll have to say something to my family."

"Yeah. Right, I'll take you home."

"And I want to talk to Mai as well," Ty Lee says, crossing her arms.

"Ah- uh, sure. I'll take you to her house too," Azula mumbles stiffly.

They stand still for a few seconds, thinking. Ty Lee chews her lip, Azula clenches her jaw.

Ty Lee is the first to speak. "New Texas is a big country. Will you know how to get there?"

"Yes. I saw the route. Interstate Ten, or what's left of it in New Texas, should get us most of the way there." Ty Lee sighs and looks around.

"You know, it's not that late in the day. If we leave before it gets dark we can be at the border before morning."

Azula looks up with a sudden swell of confidence. "Are you saying you want to leave right now?"

Ty Lee shrugs. "If Zuko hasn't figured out that you snuck out by now he will soon. Someone needs to convince him to let you leave his custody," she explains casually. Azula lets a smile creep onto her face.

"Good point. Let's go." She turns and walks to the door quickly, and Ty Lee follows. Outside, they stop and look at the door for moment, then each other. Azula grabs the door by the hole left by the shot-out doorknob and pulls it shut, sealing away the empty apartment for the last time.

This one connects to We've Sunk and should eventually connect to another story I want to write when I get time/motivation/talent. For now it works fine on its own. As far as what's happening to Azula, as Cave Johnson once said, this story "may involve trace amounts of Time Travel", depending on how strict your definition of time travel is. Thanks for reading.


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